dbeard@dominionpost.com
MORGANTOWN – WVU celebrated the kickoff of construction on the new WVU Eye Institute Friday morning.
The cold weather moved what had been planned as an outside groundbreaking indoors – to a room in the Erickson Alumni Center, where attendees watched the big yellow shovel scooping up dirt on the site across the street via a giant TV screen.
“This will be a transformational project for us,” said Michael Grace president and CEO of WVU Hospitals. They are more than doubling capacity for ophthalmology clinics and treatment rooms,
and adding surgical suites so patients won’t have to go into the hospital or elsewhere.
Planning began more than two years ago, he said. “It’s great for it to come to fruition.”
The current Eye Institute, next to the Physician Office Center, has 60 exam rooms and 13 testing rooms. The new 150,000-square-foot building, at the intersection of Van Voorhis Road and Elmer Prince Drive (where WVU Police now sits) will have 102 exam rooms and 44 testing rooms.
The four-story institute will be connected by a two-level bridge to a new, dedicated multi-level parking garage for patients and staff. They hope to open the new building in about 30 months. Estimated cost is $233.5 million, as approved last April by the WVU Heath System Board of Directors.
Master of Ceremonies Hoppy Kercheval opened the celebration. “This is a special day, as WVU Medicine takes another important step in fulfilling its mission to improve the health of West Virginians, and all that we serve.”
The CDC, he said, reports that 12 million Americans, including have vision impairment – including cataracts, glaucoma and macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.
Thomas Mauger executive chair of WVU Eye Institute, picked up on that theme, pointing out major demographic changes – such as Baby Boomers advancing in age –driving demand for more eye care.
The institute, he said, has outgrown its current building. They don’t have enough room to hire more doctors to take care of patients. And new ophthalmologists are reluctant to enter individual private practice. With its new building the institute can see patients here and support ophthalmologists at other sites across the state.
West Virginia has only 50% of the ophthalmologists it needs, he said, and in 10 years it will be only 25%. “So I have a sense of urgency that we really need to get this done.”
The new institute will help with training new doctors, he said. That means more people will experience Wet Virginia and want to stay here and practice across the state.
Clay Marsh, chancellor and executive dean of WVU Health Sciences, quoted Helen Keller: “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight with no vision.” He praised the vision of the leaders assembled in the room. “We have an incredible team. … We are here to serve you and we are now in a position to serve you better.”
WVU President Gordon Gee also praised the people who have worked to WVU’s medical offerings. And he noted the importance to location of the new institute, across the street from Erickson.
“This is a front door to our university, and to have these two facilities here mirroring each other is going to be so important.”
Eric Wingelaar, project manager with the HED architecture firm that designed the new institute, said after the ceremony that the building echoes the red brick, limestone glass theme prevalent across the campus, with a modern touch.
The eight new operating rooms, he said, are spacious but not overly so – they’re right-sized for their use. The sky bridge to the garage will take patients right to the floor they need. “It really puts the patient first. … It’s a very gratifying thing to build healthcare buildings – that’s what we do.”
